0:00:01.458,0:00:05.792 So I stand before you[br]as an evolutionary biologist, 0:00:05.833,0:00:08.143 a professor of evolutionary biology, 0:00:08.167,0:00:13.184 which sounds like a rather fancy title,[br]if I may say so myself. 0:00:13.208,0:00:15.684 And I'm going to talk about two topics 0:00:15.708,0:00:17.833 that aren't normally[br]talked about together, 0:00:19.042,0:00:22.101 and that's market economies and fungi. 0:00:22.125,0:00:26.226 Or is it fun-GUY, or,[br]as we say in Europe now, fun-GEE? 0:00:26.250,0:00:29.542 There's still no consensus[br]on how to say this word. 0:00:30.958,0:00:35.976 So I want you to imagine a market economy 0:00:36.000,0:00:39.643 that's 400 million years old, 0:00:39.667,0:00:45.476 one that's so ubiquitous that it operates[br]in almost every ecosystem of the world, 0:00:45.500,0:00:51.726 so huge that it can connect[br]millions of traders simultaneously, 0:00:51.750,0:00:53.518 and so persistent 0:00:53.542,0:00:56.351 that it survived mass extinctions. 0:00:56.375,0:00:59.851 It's here, right now, under our feet. 0:00:59.875,0:01:01.375 You just can't see it. 0:01:02.083,0:01:05.143 And unlike human economies 0:01:05.167,0:01:08.268 that rely on cognition to make decisions, 0:01:08.292,0:01:12.643 traders in this market,[br]they beg, borrow, steal, cheat, 0:01:12.667,0:01:14.726 all in the absence of thought. 0:01:14.750,0:01:16.518 So hidden from our eyes, 0:01:16.542,0:01:20.351 plant roots are colonized by a fungus[br]called arbuscule mycorrhizae. 0:01:20.375,0:01:23.851 Now the fungus forms[br]these complex networks underground 0:01:23.875,0:01:28.101 of fine filaments[br]thinner than even threads of cotton. 0:01:28.125,0:01:30.101 So follow one of these fungi, 0:01:30.125,0:01:32.958 and it connects multiple[br]plants simultaneously. 0:01:33.792,0:01:37.559 You can think of it[br]as an underground subway system, 0:01:37.583,0:01:40.059 where each root is a station, 0:01:40.083,0:01:43.351 where resources are loaded and unloaded. 0:01:43.375,0:01:45.434 And it's also very dense, 0:01:45.458,0:01:50.643 so roughly the length[br]of many meters, even a kilometer, 0:01:50.667,0:01:52.226 in a single gram of dirt. 0:01:52.250,0:01:57.309 So that's the length of 10 football fields 0:01:57.333,0:01:59.476 in just a thimbleful of soil. 0:01:59.500,0:02:00.768 And it's everywhere. 0:02:00.792,0:02:06.768 So if you passed over a tree,[br]a shrub, a vine, even a tiny weed, 0:02:06.792,0:02:09.726 you passed over a mycorrhizal network. 0:02:09.750,0:02:13.434 Roughly 80 percent of all plant species 0:02:13.458,0:02:17.268 are associated with these[br]mycorrhizal fungi. 0:02:17.292,0:02:21.143 So what does a root covered in fungi 0:02:21.167,0:02:23.809 have to do with our global economy? 0:02:23.833,0:02:28.393 And why as an evolutionary biologist[br]have I spent the last 10 years of my life 0:02:28.417,0:02:30.768 learning economic jargon? 0:02:30.792,0:02:33.208 Well, the first thing[br]you need to understand 0:02:36.167,0:02:38.684 is that trade deals[br]made by plant and fungal partners 0:02:38.708,0:02:40.893 are surprisingly similar 0:02:40.917,0:02:43.143 to those made by us, 0:02:43.167,0:02:45.559 but perhaps even more strategic. 0:02:45.583,0:02:47.309 You see, plant and fungal partners, 0:02:47.333,0:02:51.726 they're not exchanging stocks and bonds, 0:02:51.750,0:02:54.184 they're exchanging essential resources, 0:02:54.208,0:02:57.226 and for the fungus,[br]that's sugars and fats. 0:02:57.250,0:03:01.809 It gets all of its carbon[br]directly from the plant partner. 0:03:01.833,0:03:07.143 So much carbon, so every year,[br]roughly five billion tons of carbon 0:03:07.167,0:03:11.684 from plants go into[br]this network underground. 0:03:11.708,0:03:16.684 For the root, what they need[br]is phosphorus and nitrogen, 0:03:16.708,0:03:18.518 so by exchanging their carbon 0:03:18.542,0:03:23.708 they get access to all of the nutrients[br]collected by that fungal network. 0:03:24.750,0:03:26.684 So to make the trade, 0:03:26.708,0:03:31.434 the fungus penetrates[br]into the root cell of the host 0:03:31.458,0:03:35.184 and forms a tiny structure[br]called an arbuscule, 0:03:35.208,0:03:37.851 which is Latin for "little tree." 0:03:37.875,0:03:42.184 Now, you can think of this[br]as the physical stock exchange 0:03:42.208,0:03:43.476 of the trade market. 0:03:43.500,0:03:46.684 So up until now, it seems very harmonious. 0:03:46.708,0:03:49.559 Right? I scratch your back,[br]you scratch mine, 0:03:49.583,0:03:51.726 both partners get what they need. 0:03:51.750,0:03:54.934 But here is where we need to pause 0:03:54.958,0:03:59.851 and understand the power[br]of evolution and natural selection. 0:03:59.875,0:04:04.934 You see, there's no room[br]for amateur traders on this market. 0:04:04.958,0:04:07.726 Making the right trade strategy 0:04:07.750,0:04:10.958 determines who lives and who dies. 0:04:12.417,0:04:15.000 Now, I use the word strategy, 0:04:16.083,0:04:19.559 but of course plant and fungi,[br]they don't have brains. 0:04:19.583,0:04:21.059 They're making these exchanges 0:04:21.083,0:04:24.708 in the absence of anything[br]that we would consider as thought. 0:04:26.500,0:04:30.851 But, as scientists,[br]we use behavioral terms 0:04:30.875,0:04:34.143 such as strategy 0:04:34.167,0:04:38.268 to describe behaviors[br]to certain conditions, 0:04:38.292,0:04:40.393 actions and reactions 0:04:40.417,0:04:45.583 that are actually programmed[br]into the DNA of the organism. 0:04:46.458,0:04:49.226 So I started studying[br]these trade strategies 0:04:49.250,0:04:51.809 when I was 19 years old 0:04:51.833,0:04:55.351 and I was living in[br]the tropical rainforests of Panama. 0:04:55.375,0:05:01.518 Now, everybody at the time was interested[br]in this incredible diversity aboveground. 0:05:01.542,0:05:04.809 And it was hyperdiversity.[br]These are tropical rainforests. 0:05:04.833,0:05:08.476 But I was interested[br]in the complexity belowground. 0:05:08.500,0:05:11.893 We knew that the networks existed,[br]and we knew they were important, 0:05:11.917,0:05:14.851 and I'm going to say it again,[br]by important I mean important, 0:05:14.875,0:05:17.559 so the basis of all plant nutrition 0:05:17.583,0:05:20.792 for all the diversity[br]that you do see aboveground. 0:05:22.083,0:05:26.601 But at the time, we didn't know[br]how these networks worked. 0:05:26.625,0:05:28.809 We didn't know how they functioned. 0:05:28.833,0:05:33.893 Why did only certain plants[br]interact with certain fungi? 0:05:33.917,0:05:36.601 So fast-forward to when[br]I started my own group, 0:05:36.625,0:05:39.768 and we really began to play[br]with this trade market. 0:05:39.792,0:05:41.851 You see, we would manipulate conditions. 0:05:41.875,0:05:45.893 We would create a good trading partner[br]by growing a plant in the sun 0:05:45.917,0:05:48.934 and a poor trading partner[br]by growing it in the shade. 0:05:48.958,0:05:52.226 We would then connect these[br]with a fungal network. 0:05:52.250,0:05:55.934 And we found that the fungi[br]were consistently good 0:05:55.958,0:06:00.101 at discriminating among[br]good and bad trading partners. 0:06:00.125,0:06:05.000 They would allocate more resources[br]to the host plant giving them more carbon. 0:06:06.042,0:06:08.809 Now, we would run[br]the reciprocal experiments 0:06:08.833,0:06:12.643 where we would inoculate a host plant[br]with good and bad fungi, 0:06:12.667,0:06:16.833 and they were also good at discriminating[br]between these trade partners. 0:06:17.750,0:06:24.101 So what you have there is the perfect[br]conditions for a market to emerge. 0:06:24.125,0:06:26.018 It's a simple market, 0:06:26.042,0:06:28.226 but it's a market nonetheless, 0:06:28.250,0:06:32.333 where the better trading partner[br]is consistently favored. 0:06:33.708,0:06:35.184 But is it a fair market? 0:06:35.208,0:06:38.934 Now this is where you need[br]to understand that, like humans, 0:06:38.958,0:06:43.167 plants and fungi[br]are incredibly opportunistic. 0:06:44.250,0:06:49.268 There's evidence that the fungus,[br]once it penetrates into the plant cell, 0:06:49.292,0:06:54.393 it can actually hijack the plant's[br]own nutrient uptake system. 0:06:54.417,0:06:57.476 It does this by suppressing[br]the plant's own ability 0:06:57.500,0:07:00.601 to take up nutrients from the soil. 0:07:00.625,0:07:05.226 So this creates a dependency[br]of the plant on the fungus. 0:07:05.250,0:07:08.184 It's a false addiction, of sorts, 0:07:08.208,0:07:10.893 whereby the plant has to feed the fungus 0:07:10.917,0:07:15.250 just to get access to the resources[br]right around its own root. 0:07:16.333,0:07:21.934 There's also evidence that the fungi are[br]good at inflating the price of nutrients. 0:07:21.958,0:07:26.143 They do this by extracting[br]the nutrients from the soil, 0:07:26.167,0:07:29.268 but then rather than[br]trading them with the host, 0:07:29.292,0:07:31.518 they hoard them in their network, 0:07:31.542,0:07:37.042 so this makes them unavailable[br]to the plant and other competing fungi. 0:07:37.792,0:07:39.309 So basic economics, 0:07:39.333,0:07:43.476 as resource availability goes down,[br]the value goes up. 0:07:43.500,0:07:48.434 The plant is forced to pay more[br]for the same amount of resources. 0:07:48.458,0:07:51.684 But it's not all in favor of the fungus. 0:07:51.708,0:07:54.976 Plants can be extremely cunning as well. 0:07:55.000,0:07:56.309 There are some orchids -- 0:07:56.333,0:07:59.268 and I always think orchids somehow[br]seem like the most devious 0:07:59.292,0:08:01.184 of the plant species in the world -- 0:08:01.208,0:08:03.559 and there are some orchids 0:08:03.583,0:08:07.393 that just tap directly into the network 0:08:07.417,0:08:09.809 and steal all their carbon. 0:08:09.833,0:08:14.268 So these orchids, they don't even make[br]green leaves to photosynthesize. 0:08:14.292,0:08:15.643 They're just white. 0:08:15.667,0:08:17.809 So rather than photosynthesizing, 0:08:17.833,0:08:19.268 tap into the network, 0:08:19.292,0:08:20.726 steal the carbon 0:08:20.750,0:08:22.625 and give nothing in return. 0:08:23.583,0:08:26.351 Now I think it's fair to say[br]that these types of parasites 0:08:26.375,0:08:28.934 also flourish in our human markets. 0:08:28.958,0:08:32.893 So as we began to decode these strategies, 0:08:32.917,0:08:34.768 we learned some lessons. 0:08:34.792,0:08:40.101 And the first one was that[br]there's no altruism in this system. 0:08:40.125,0:08:42.018 There's no trade favors. 0:08:42.042,0:08:45.684 We don't see strong evidence 0:08:45.708,0:08:50.476 of the fungus helping[br]dying or struggling plants 0:08:50.500,0:08:56.875 unless it directly benefits[br]the fungus itself. 0:08:58.333,0:09:01.434 Now I'm not saying[br]if this is good or bad. 0:09:01.458,0:09:05.976 Unlike humans, a fungus, of course,[br]cannot judge its own morality. 0:09:06.000,0:09:07.268 And as a biologist, 0:09:07.292,0:09:14.059 I'm not advocating for these types[br]of ruthless neoliberal market dynamics 0:09:14.083,0:09:15.667 enacted by the fungi. 0:09:18.000,0:09:19.750 But the trade system, 0:09:21.250,0:09:23.375 it provides us with a benchmark 0:09:24.833,0:09:28.184 to study what an economy looks like 0:09:28.208,0:09:31.018 when it's been shaped by natural selection 0:09:31.042,0:09:34.684 for hundreds of millions of years 0:09:34.708,0:09:37.351 in the absence of morality, 0:09:37.375,0:09:39.934 when strategies are just based 0:09:39.958,0:09:44.809 on the gathering and processing[br]of information, 0:09:44.833,0:09:47.268 uncontaminated by cognition: 0:09:47.292,0:09:49.809 no jealousy, no spite, 0:09:49.833,0:09:51.708 but no hope, no joy. 0:09:52.583,0:09:54.976 So we've made progress 0:09:55.000,0:09:59.559 in decoding the most basic[br]trade principles at this point, 0:09:59.583,0:10:02.726 but as scientists we always[br]want to take it one step further, 0:10:02.750,0:10:07.500 and we're interested in more complex[br]economic dilemmas. 0:10:08.417,0:10:12.500 And specifically we're interested[br]in the effects of inequality. 0:10:13.500,0:10:19.184 So inequality has really become[br]a defining feature 0:10:19.208,0:10:21.542 of today's economic landscape. 0:10:22.333,0:10:24.809 But the challenges of inequality 0:10:24.833,0:10:27.476 are not unique to the human world. 0:10:27.500,0:10:31.268 I think as humans we tend to think[br]that everything's unique to us, 0:10:31.292,0:10:33.934 but organisms in nature 0:10:33.958,0:10:39.226 must face relentless variation[br]in their access to resources. 0:10:39.250,0:10:42.518 How does a fungus[br]that can again be meters long 0:10:42.542,0:10:47.434 change its trade strategy[br]when it's exposed simultaneously 0:10:47.458,0:10:50.393 to a rich patch and a poor patch? 0:10:50.417,0:10:51.684 And, more generally, 0:10:51.708,0:10:54.976 how do organisms in nature[br]use trade to their advantage 0:10:55.000,0:10:57.726 when they're faced with uncertainty 0:10:57.750,0:11:00.268 in terms of their access to resources? 0:11:00.292,0:11:02.476 Here's where I have[br]to let you in on a secret: 0:11:02.500,0:11:07.393 studying trade underground[br]is incredibly difficult. 0:11:07.417,0:11:13.434 You can't see where or when[br]important trade deals take place. 0:11:13.458,0:11:17.434 So our group helped pioneer[br]a method, a technology, 0:11:17.458,0:11:22.101 whereby we could tag nutrients[br]with nanoparticles, 0:11:22.125,0:11:26.059 fluorescing nanoparticles[br]called quantum dots. 0:11:26.083,0:11:28.476 What the quantum dots allow us to do 0:11:28.500,0:11:31.351 is actually light up the nutrients 0:11:31.375,0:11:34.518 so we can visually track their movements 0:11:34.542,0:11:36.934 across the fungal network 0:11:36.958,0:11:39.101 and into the host root. 0:11:39.125,0:11:42.768 So this allows us finally[br]to see the unseen, 0:11:42.792,0:11:48.101 so we can study how fungi bargain[br]at a small scale with their plant hosts. 0:11:48.125,0:11:49.768 So to study inequality, 0:11:49.792,0:11:51.934 we exposed a fungal network 0:11:51.958,0:11:55.851 to these varying concentrations[br]of fluorescing phosphorus, 0:11:55.875,0:11:59.559 mimicking patches[br]of abundance and scarcity 0:11:59.583,0:12:01.583 across this artificial landscape. 0:12:02.458,0:12:05.583 We then carefully quantified fungal trade. 0:12:07.167,0:12:08.750 And we found two things. 0:12:09.667,0:12:11.351 The first thing we found 0:12:11.375,0:12:16.125 was that inequality encouraged[br]the fungus to trade more. 0:12:17.333,0:12:22.059 So I can use the word "encouraged"[br]or "stimulated" or "forced," 0:12:22.083,0:12:25.351 but the bottom line is[br]that compared to control conditions, 0:12:25.375,0:12:29.625 inequality was associated[br]with higher levels of trade. 0:12:31.292,0:12:33.143 This is important, 0:12:33.167,0:12:38.309 because it suggests that evolving[br]a trade partnership in nature 0:12:38.333,0:12:42.875 can help organisms cope with[br]the uncertainty of accessing resources. 0:12:43.833,0:12:49.375 Second, we found that,[br]exposed to inequality, 0:12:50.792,0:12:55.726 the fungus would move resources[br]from the rich patch of the network, 0:12:55.750,0:12:59.893 actively transport them[br]to the poor side of the network. 0:12:59.917,0:13:01.559 Now, of course, we could see this 0:13:01.583,0:13:04.476 because the patches[br]were fluorescing in different colors. 0:13:04.500,0:13:09.000 So at first, this result[br]was incredibly puzzling. 0:13:10.042,0:13:13.893 Was it to help[br]the poor side of the network? 0:13:13.917,0:13:19.768 No. We found that the fungus gained more[br]by first moving the resources 0:13:19.792,0:13:22.351 to where demand was higher. 0:13:22.375,0:13:28.726 Simply by changing where[br]across the network the fungus was trading, 0:13:28.750,0:13:32.083 it could manipulate[br]the value of those resources. 0:13:33.375,0:13:39.601 Now this stimulated us to really[br]dig deeper into how information is shared. 0:13:39.625,0:13:42.309 It suggests a high level[br]of sophistication, 0:13:42.333,0:13:45.476 or at least a medium level[br]of sophistication 0:13:45.500,0:13:48.601 in an organism with no cognition. 0:13:48.625,0:13:54.018 How is it that a fungus can sense[br]market conditions across its network 0:13:54.042,0:13:58.059 and then make calculations[br]of where and when to trade? 0:13:58.083,0:14:02.643 So we wanted to look about information[br]and how it's shared across this network, 0:14:02.667,0:14:05.292 how the fungus integrates cues. 0:14:07.208,0:14:12.601 So to do that, what you need to do is[br]dive deep in and get a higher resolution 0:14:12.625,0:14:14.375 into the network itself. 0:14:15.375,0:14:19.768 We began to study complex flows[br]inside the hyphal network. 0:14:19.792,0:14:23.976 So what you're looking at right now[br]is a living fungal network 0:14:24.000,0:14:28.101 with the cellular contents[br]moving across it. 0:14:28.125,0:14:30.059 This is happening in real time, 0:14:30.083,0:14:32.434 so you can see the time stamp up there. 0:14:32.458,0:14:35.143 So this is happening right now.[br]This video isn't sped up. 0:14:35.167,0:14:37.601 This is what is happening[br]under our feet right now. 0:14:37.625,0:14:40.934 And there's a couple of things[br]that I want you to notice. 0:14:40.958,0:14:45.559 It speeds up, it slows down,[br]it switches directions. 0:14:45.583,0:14:48.351 So we're working now with biophysicists 0:14:48.375,0:14:51.768 to try to dissect this complexity. 0:14:51.792,0:14:55.768 How is the fungus using[br]these complex flow patterns 0:14:55.792,0:14:58.434 to share and process information 0:14:58.458,0:15:00.625 and make these trade decisions? 0:15:01.875,0:15:07.292 Are fungi better at making[br]trade calculations than us? 0:15:08.250,0:15:12.226 Now here's where we can potentially[br]borrow models from nature. 0:15:12.250,0:15:15.559 We're increasingly reliant[br]on computer algorithms 0:15:15.583,0:15:20.184 to make us profitable trades[br]in split-second time scales. 0:15:20.208,0:15:23.768 But computer algorithms and fungi, 0:15:23.792,0:15:27.583 they both operate in similar,[br]uncognitive ways. 0:15:28.875,0:15:32.101 The fungi just happens to be[br]a living machine. 0:15:32.125,0:15:35.434 What would happen[br]if we compare and compete 0:15:35.458,0:15:38.601 the trading strategies of these two? 0:15:38.625,0:15:39.976 Who would win? 0:15:40.000,0:15:43.476 The tiny capitalist that's been around 0:15:43.500,0:15:48.851 since before and[br]the fall of the dinosaurs? 0:15:48.875,0:15:50.708 My money is on the fungus. 0:15:51.417,0:15:52.684 Thank you. 0:15:52.708,0:15:56.000 (Applause)